The Sweetest Thing
by Hayai Akurei
Summary: The best things in life are the little things. Semirandom silliness ensues.


The Sweetest Thing

By Hayai Akurei

--((00))-((00))--

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own them.

Author's Notes: I guess you can read into this relationship as shonen-ai, but I just like to think of it for now as just camaraderie love, I guess you could call it. Hisoka needs some lovin', dang it! They ALL need some lovin'!

(a la Jack Sparrow) Hugs? I love hugs! Warm fuzzies all around!

--((00))-((00))--

"Gooood Morning!"

The relative quiet of the office was broken as a trench coat-clad whirlwind practically barreled into the building with all the grace of a hyperactive ballerina and looking as if he had consumed entirely too much sugar for breakfast that morning, which, knowing him, he just might have. As usual, his clothes were a regular mess; he slept in too often to allow time to iron his things properly everyday. Not your mental image of the top shinigami of the Summons Department.

But such was the enigma that was Tsuzuki Asato.

"Good morning, Hisoka!" he chirped, greeting his partner with a thousand watt smile. "How are you this morning?"

"Just shut up and go away," Kurosaki Hisoka growled in his usual perturbed attitude, riffling through the papers on his desk. "I'm in no mood to talk."

"Awww, come on Soka-chan…" whined Tsuzuki in his best puppy voice. He added the ears and tail for effect. "We're partners! We're supposed to share everything! Did you have a nightmare or something? Did Saya and Yuma attack you with that pink dress again? Or did Watari try and trick you into being his guinea pig for that new sex-changing potion? You know you can talk to me if there's something bothering you!"

"I know," the blond said, not once looking at him. He knew that if he looked into those big violet eyes, his resolve would crumble. "But I don't feel like talking about it. It's not important anyway. And don't call me Soka-chan," he added as an afterthought.

Tsuzuki-puppy grumped, leaning against Hisoka's desk and taking a healthy bite out of a doughnut he'd swiped from Terazuma's desk.

"Well, it must be important, considering you're this upset over it."

He jumped with a startled yelp of surprise when Hisoka slammed his palms flat on the table. Tsuzuki didn't have to be an empath like his partner to feel the waves of the angry aura that emanated from the boy's body.

"It's nothing," he hissed softly, willing himself to calm down. "Just…leave me alone for a little while. I'll get over it."

Tsuzuki sighed, running his hands through his brown hair. "Okay, Hisoka." The younger shinigami glanced up at the change in tone and was surprised to see his partner smiling at him, violet eyes lowered in gentle understanding. Placing a hand on Hisoka's shoulder, Tsuzuki said, "If you just need some time to sort things out, that's fine. I'll still be here if you want to talk."

"Thanks," replied Hisoka, turning his gaze back to the papers at hand.

"I'll be at Watari's in the meantime!" Tsuzuki called back cheerily as he skipped out the door. "See ya!"

Hisoka sighed as his partner left. "Baka."

--((00))-((00))--

Watari was sitting in his laboratory, doodling away on his report files and bringing a few stick figures to life with a flick of his finger. He was bored. It wouldn't be another few hours until the analysis on his last experiment would come in and until then, he had absolutely nothing to do.

"I'm so bored!" he wailed dramatically, flopping in his chair. From her perch atop his computer, 003 hooted her condolences to her master. Fluttering down, she clicked her beak at him, nibbling at his long blond tresses.

"Watari Yutaka, you need a hobby," he groaned, watching a two-dimensional samurai get squished by a dragon. Then, there was a knock at the door, and a familiar face poked his head in.

"Watari?" Tsuzuki called, "You alive in here?"

"TSUZUKI!" cried the scientist, flinging himself at the shinigami and wrapping himself around his waist. "My savior! I've absolutely nothing to do and it's _killing_ me! I have six hours at my disposal – _six_! – and no inspiration of any sort is coming to me! My muses have all died!"

003 hooted at him.

"Except for you, my dear," he added, petting her head. The violet-eyed man frowned.

"Well, this is a predicament, isn't it? Did you finish your sugar substitute experiment?"

"Someone beat me to it," he grumbled. "Some company or other…Splendor or something to that extent."

"Oh. What about your doodle exercises?"

"I can't bring enough energy to summon anything more than a two-inch tall stick figure." Watari seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into his slump.

"Uhh…" Tsuzuki wracked his brain for an idea. "Did you get your paperwork done?"

"Turned it in this morning."

The brunette blinked. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. "Well, do you want to go out for lunch or something?"

"Sure why – oh my goodness, I can't believe I forgot!" Watari exclaimed suddenly. Tsuzuki blinked big violet eyes at him.

"What'd you forget now?"

The blonde turned to his friend and looked him in the eye. "Let's go shopping!"

"Why? What's the occasion?"

"I saw Bon this morning and I completely forgot to wish him a Happy Birthday! Yutaka no baka!" he said, bonking himself upside the head. "I need to get him a present, too!" Golden eyes met amethyst in desperation. "Come with me, Tsuzuki! You're his partner! You know what he likes, right? Give me some ideas!"

Violet eyes blinked owlishly at him.

"Today's Hisoka's birthday?" asked Tsuzuki. Come to think of it, he had never asked his partner much about his personal information. Things like that were touchy with the green-eyed psychic. "How old is he?"

The blonde shrugged. "I don't remember. Twenty-one, I believe. He's your partner. You'll have to ask him."

"Okay then," Tsuzuki said, "We'll go during lunch."

"Yayy!" cheered the scientist, leaping for joy. "We get to go shopping!"

From atop her master's shoulder, 003 hooted cheerily.

--((00))-((00))--

"Tsuzuki! _Tsuzuki_!" Konoe shouted. Upon not receiving an answer, he scowled, grumbling to himself. "Where is that idiot? He is so fired if he doesn't get his sorry butt in my office now! If I find out that he was loitering around on Earth just for some desserts, I'll…!"

He couldn't even find the words to finish his sentence. Instead, he finalized it with a hefty snort.

"You lookin' for Tsuzuki, Boss?" asked Terazuma, walking up behind him. Konoe whipped around. "YES! Have you seen him?"

"Nope," the former detective said, chewing on the constantly present cigarette in his mouth. "But I know that he ain't here." He jabbed his thumb over at the message wall, where scrawled on the board was: URGENT MATTER CAME UP. MUST SEE TO IMMEDIATELY. WILL RETURN, HOPEFULLY SOON. LOVE AND PEACE. TSUZUKI.

"ARGGHHH!" Konoe ground out, looking hot enough to blow steam out his ears. "TSUZUKI!"

--((00))-((00))--

"So what exactly does he like?" Watari asked, as they walked down the sidewalk. He pulled his coat around him a little tighter. "Good heavens, it's chilly today."

Violet eyes scanned the shop windows, admiring the colorful displays.

"I'm not really sure, to be honest," said Tsuzuki. "I know he doesn't like food that's too sweet. Makes him a little ill."

"Well, keep looking," Watari said, skipping ahead to look around at some of the other shops.

'I can probably imagine why Hisoka's so uptight…' Tsuzuki thought, casually glancing in the windows as he walked leisurely down the street. 'I wouldn't like to celebrate my birthday much either if I spent the first thirteen locked up in a closet and the last three in a hospital by myself.'

He sighed. It grieved him to remember just what the boy had been through, and Hisoka's distancing himself from others in an attempt at self-preservation didn't help much. He desperately needed a friend, even if he himself didn't realize it.

Tsuzuki paused in front of a bookstore. Hisoka liked books. He spent more time with the Gushoshin in the library than anywhere else, unless he was on a mission of course.

"No…" Dark brown bangs swished in his face as he shook his head. "Too dull. It's gotta be a special present!" he proclaimed, slapping a fist into the palm of his other hand. With renewed determination, Tsuzuki continued his window-shopping.

He so wanted to get his partner to open up to him more, but there was a boundary even he wasn't allowed across very often. What he needed was a bridge, something to get to his overly stubborn partner's inner feelings. However, despite the dark side of things, they were making progress, and Hisoka was slowly finding his place among the Guardians of Death.

Then, the tall man stopped, something catching his eye. He couldn't quite explain it; it felt like a magnetic pull, drawing his attention with all the effectiveness of a flashing neon sign.

It was perfect. Not too simple, not too flashy. How could Hisoka resist?

Smiling, he strode inside, the little bell above the door heralding his arrival.

--((00))-((00))--

Hisoka slumped in his chair, stretching his arms over his head. Where in the name of everything sane had Tsuzuki gone? Apparently, he had fled Meifu for the day on "errands," and Konoe had come to him to complain about it. And from the way Tatsumi had been flying around the office yelling about how he was going to dock _everyone's_ paycheck at this rate, Watari was gone as well.

What kind of errands could those two have to make anyway?

On second thought, he didn't really want to know. Knowing Tsuzuki, he'd gone down to Earth to fetch something for his sweet tooth. Then, he would come back to the office and plead with Tatsumi to lift his steadily growing tab of all the money he owed for damages on past missions (which put a strain on his food bill). Of course, the secretary would decline.

After some smooth talking, Hisoka managed to pacify his supervisor, taking care of his partner's messy desk while he was at it.

He glanced outside. It was getting late. But it was nice for once to just tidy up around the office instead of gallivanting all over Japan in search of wayward souls. He wouldn't call it a break, per se, but it was just as well.

'I need something to eat,' he thought, rubbing his eyes as his stomach gave a growl. "I wonder if there's anything left in the lounge."

Not surprisingly, everything had been cleaned out, save for a few bottles of soda. Hisoka helped himself to a juice pack and headed back. But a brightly colored something sitting on his desk that had most certainly not been there before caught his attention.

'What the…?'

When he came around, Hisoka stared at the gift obviously for him.

It was a small plush puppy sitting on a box, a bright red bow cinched around his neck with bright black button eyes gleaming up at him. He was no bigger than a teddy bear, and between his forepaws sat a red heart, the white stitching on it reading "I Love You".

Obviously a sale item leftover from Valentine's Day.

Next to the puppy was a simple blue leather journal, a silver pen lying on top. Opening it up, he found Watari's elegant scrawl bearing birthday wishes etched inside.

How did anyone know? He hadn't told anyone that it was his birthday.

Cautiously reaching towards the stuffed animal as if it would bite him, Hisoka picked it up. It was so soft. The brown micro-fiber fur caressed his skin like the softest fleece. He eyed the box it had been sitting on, reading the small card on the side.

'I know you don't like sweet stuff, so this was the next best thing. Happy Birthday Hisoka. Much love, Tsuzuki.'

He opened the small white box, and found half a dozen chocolates sitting in nice little rows like tiny soldiers. Curious, Hisoka took a bite out of one.

Mint. Not half bad.

His heart began to grow heavy as he sat down, eating the rest of it and placing the remaining candies in his drawer. Green eyes studied the little puppy as he stroked it. He couldn't stop touching it; it was so soft.

'He even looks like Tsuzuki,' he thought amusedly. Part of his brain wondered if that had been Tsuzuki's intent.

For that moment, the empath allowed himself a small smile. He could just see that goofball's expression as he begged him for permission to buy sweets from whichever café that sold the best desserts in the area. For the longest while, Hisoka just sat there, gazing at his newfound companion.

"Hug me!" those big black eyes screamed, "Hug me! Hug me! You know you want one!"

He couldn't resist. Curse those puppy charms!

He felt so awkward, sitting alone in the office and cuddling the stuffed animal to his chest. But the ache in his chest began to go away, replaced with a warm, tingling sensation that swelled in his chest.

It was a happy birthday.

--((00))-((00))--

Author's Notes: Honestly, I don't know when Hisoka's birthday is exactly, so I just took some creative liberties and set it sometime in February. It's probably wrong, so if you wanna flame me for being lazy and not doing the proper research, go ahead. My room is freezing and it'll be nice installing that new fireplace in it.

Never doubt the power of puppy eyes. Tsuzuki has them down pat.


End file.
